


Smoke all those stupid Cigarettes (Five years time)

by crossstitchcorinthian



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Background Relationships, Friendship, Multi, Romance, University Student Liam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-13
Updated: 2013-04-13
Packaged: 2017-12-08 09:48:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/759982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crossstitchcorinthian/pseuds/crossstitchcorinthian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam wasn't dense. He really wasn't.<br/>He just couldn't understand poetry. Or poets. Or boys with good cheekbones and dark, unreadable eyes that made him want to write some of his own.<br/>He'd never really been good with things he couldn't understand.</p><p>Or, if you prefer, in which Liam and Zain (as he kept it, because he'd never been good with change) take turns teaching each other things they'd really rather not learn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smoke all those stupid Cigarettes (Five years time)

**Author's Note:**

> Basically everything about this will be inspired by Noah and the Whale.  
> The title comes from one of their songs, Five years time, and is an obvious reference to Zain. (there's a very good reason as to why it's spelt that way)   
> The chapter title comes from L.I.F.E. G.O.E.S. O.N.  
> I can't explain much more than that at this point, not without giving away more than I am willing to.
> 
> Just tell me what you think, yeah?   
> (and another thing. The only person who's beta'd this is me, so if you spot any mistakes/inconsistencies, don't be afraid to point it out, yeah?)

Zain was, quite frankly, quite surprised to find out that he wasn't sick of it yet.

He might have been able to understand if the other had been dense. Hell, he might have even understood if he’d not cared enough to dedicate the due care and attention to the subject.

But, as far as he could tell, Liam was a fairly bright guy. Fairly bright, and with a vested interest in literature. Or, at least, it would appear that way to the outside observer. Every Thursday, without fail, Liam would show up to pester him with questions, often taking up all of Zain’s office hours. He seemed to hang off his every word during the time spent, even if he didn’t comprehend much at all.

Then again, he had begun to suspect the other had perfected the art of appearing attentive whilst just generally not focusing at all.

Zain let out a long suffering sigh, and gently pushed a sheet of paper towards the other. Perhaps it was worth one more try. “All right. I think you’ve covered this poem recently. Should be fairly simple, then. Don’t bother colour marking or whatever. Just analyze it. Pull for it what you can.”

Anyway you can. He’d long since learnt that the conventional methods simply did not work with Liam. Still, he held some hope for this one. It was a basic poem from one of the world’s best-known poets. Zain happened to know that Liam had worked on this poem in class. Just last week, in fact. Part of his master’s program required him to work as a Teacher’s Aide, and Liam’s professor had set him to grade those particular papers. It had been a shoddy paper, even for Liam. That would have something to do with the fact that there’d been a rugby match last week. It was probably Andy’s fault.          

Andy Samuels was alright, really. Not really Zain’s sort of person, but he was nice enough, and despite expectations, a damned good friend to Liam. He was generally the one to announce at matches, and to take the team out drinking after, consuming an obscene amount of alcohol whether they won or not. Whilst Liam never seemed to down more than two pints a night, he felt obligated to stick around until he had to all but drag Andy’s bladdered arse back to their flat. Which meant he’d have had to rush his paper. Come to think of it, Danny’d mentioned something about having to kick out a drunk lion _“…and his little dog too!”_ at something like three in the morning. All the same, he thought Liam’s work had progressed a bit more than that.

“Done! I think?” Liam gave him a cautiously hopeful look as he pushed the paper back towards him. Zain quickly scanned the page, so used to Liam’s messy scrawl that he no long had to pause to decipher it. He had to resist the urge to laugh. The analysis wasn’t that bad, really, but for some strange reason, Liam had found it vital to add little face and smileys at the end of almost every sentence. After a couple of deep breaths (to make certain he wouldn’t burst out in laughter when he opened his mouth to speak) Zain said, in a voice that still couldn’t quite hide his amusement, “I hope you don’t put those on your exams and papers. They’re not very professional.”

Liam grinned at him, his smile idiotically wide and utterly genuine. “Nope. But you didn’t look like you were happy with me. I sort of hoped they’d make you laugh?” He shrugged, the tips of his ears going red.

Zain let out a slight chuckle, his shoulder moving slightly into the sound. “Yeah. Well, if you didn’t need so much help…” Zain shrugged himself, half smiling at Liam through long lashes. “But, yeah. Pretty funny.”

“Good…” Liam’s mouth had closed, but it didn’t quite seem as if he’d finished speaking. In fact, he’d just reopened it, probably to complete his thought. Unfortunately, before he could, Zain felt arms around his neck, and heard a voice in his ear.

“Zed! Hiya.” He laughed again, and reached up to briefly squeeze the arms around his neck.

“Hello. I thought you’d have gone home by now. Did you leave the keys at the flat again?” The arms relaxed, releasing him, and Perrie appeared besides him. Zain reached for his key, but Perrie was shaking her head, pastel green strands of hair swirling in the air. Her hair had been lilac last month, and would probably, knowing her, be pink by next week.

“No. I’ve got my keys. I’m just waiting for Tom to get out of practice.” She sat on the edge of the table, ignoring the way it shook slightly as she swung her legs. “He’s coming over tonight, remember?”

Zain sighed and nodded. He’d forgotten, actually, but it didn’t really matter. “Yeah. If you don’t need my keys, why are you here? Office hours don’t finish until 7. You know that.” He motioned at Liam, hoping she’d get the hint.

She rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the table, landing on her feet with the slap of big boots on carpet. “They close the libraries early on Thursday, and my hands hurt too much to draw much more today. I’m bored. Whose your friend?” She didn’t bother to pause between her explanation and her question. Perrie had turned to grinning broadly at Liam, who was politely returning the expression.

“My friend, as you called him, is Liam. We’re currently both very busy trying to get him to understand Dickinson’s work.” Zain tapped the paper with the end of a pen to make his point.

Perrie turned her head, somehow managing to decipher Liam’s scrawl, even though it was upside down. “That bad, then?” She pulled a face, grimacing before she continued to read.

“I’m surprised you haven’t given up yet, Zed. You don’t generally have that much patience for this sort of thing.” She began to laugh, leaning down towards the table.

Zain resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I don’t have much patience for you, Pez. Liam is here because he wants help, not because he enjoys harassing me. He’s actually made a lot of progress lately.”

“…And I thought Tom was shit with words. Oh, this is good.” She was fully bent over now, fingers playing with the corners of the page. Liam raised an eyebrow at Zain over her back, his expression slightly smug at Zain’s comment. Zain shrugged, and pulled the paper away from Perrie.

“Oh. He’d not that bad. You’re just too in love to admit just how shit Tom is with words.” That stopped her laughing.

She stood up, fixing her loose flannel button down before shrugging. “That’s probably true. So I’m getting the feeling that you want me to go away for a while? Let you get back to your dusty books and boring, unfeeling words.” Perrie span on her heels, kicking the door open as she exited the room.

Zain shook his head slightly, turning back to Liam. “Sorry about that. Flatmates, yeah? I guess that’s what I get for rooming with an art major.” He shrugged, and uncapped the pen, ready to write some corrections and suggestions. Liam generally worked better when he had things written down for him.

“Did she mean what she said about books?” Liam was staring after her, more amused than bemused, though that was evident in his expression as well.

Zain shook his head slightly, half smiling at Liam before going back to his writing. “Nah. She’s just getting back at me. I said this morning that Jackson Pollock was overrated.”

Liam tilted his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowing slightly. “Jackson who? And did you mean what you said?”

Zain waved the hand without the pen in it about aimlessly for a few seconds. “Pollock. Splatter art? The guy who flung paint at a canvas and called it deep and expressive?” He shrugged, pausing to look up at Liam before he nodded. “About you improving? Yeah. I mean, you’ve still got a lot of work to do, but in comparison to where you were went we started these sessions…you’re loads better.”

Liam grinned that same wide, honest smile, the tips of his ears tinted with the same red as before. “Seriously? Wow. Thanks.”            

Zain shrugged, feeling himself flush slightly. He’d never really known how to deal with gratitude. As far as he was concerned, people should be decent to one another. Being thanked for it just felt too much like being thanked for existing. It’s just how you were supposed to do. “Yeah. Well, it’s true.”

He pushed the paper back to Liam. “Here. These are my only issues. You’ve got a lot better at looking for emotion and finding the structure of the poem, but you still have troubles with allusions and metaphorical significance. And, short of reading all the myths and most of the classics out there, you’re going to continue to have an issue with that."

Liam continued to smile at him for a few seconds more before he moved. “Right. Well…I’ll get going then, if that all for today?” He stood, turning around at the door.

“I’ll see you next Thursday, then?” His teeth shone bright in the half-light that came through the crack in the opened door. 

Zain nodded, smiling slightly as he waved the other out of the office. “Same time as usual.”


End file.
